Comments (999)

My 3yo, the great climbing monkey, couldn't get up on that without help. I do think they need to put the wire fencing all the way around the observation deck now. Extra deterrents from people who ignore safety guidelines.

I'm fine investigating her to make sure there wasn't a string of negligent behavior. I think that's a good start. A child is dead, he deserves for people to look into why instead of dismissing it as an accident. His life matters.

And that is a reasonable approach. I do believe context of general care matters. She could have been a horrible mother or someone just like you and I, who simply made an incredibly bad call.

Toddlers are crafty. She may have put him up there, but maybe she didn't. It is possible that she simply turned her back for a moment.

^^^
The latest witness reports say she stood him up on the edge, and he promptly slipped and fell in. Regardless of if the fences are climbable or not, it seems the mother in this case DID knowingly place him up on the fence.

I still don't think this was the zoo's fault, but I do think that if they don't change something, that would be negligent as well. It has been shown that these things can happen, and even if the percentage of it happening again was low, it's still more than enough to me a higher guard.

i still think it's crazy people are still arguing that this was the mother's fault entirely.

It is. She had a responsibility to watch her child. She apparently place him on top of a barrier. That is foolish. Was it a tragic accident? Yes.

Depending on the area, there are fences the same height at the zoo I work at. If someone takes risks, or is crazy determined, it is possible to get into almost any animal enclosure.

Note that this is the first visitor fatality in the zoo's history. If kids were falling willy nilly into exhibits all the time, you could argue it is dangerous. But you have to deliberately breach the barriers for something like this to happen.

If we had to make zoos 100% safe they'd all shut down. Even if zoos could afford it, it would be detrimental to the animals and prohibitively expensive and a maintenance nightmare.

And yes I have a toddler, and he can not climb up glass. The police already reported she placed the child up on the rail. There are so many fences and rails all around the zoo at this height, kids are not constantly climbing and falling into places.

I feel horribly for her, I'm sure she's beyond devastated. But children should be protected by the law, they are at their parent's mercy. Like it or not, not every parent is worried about their kid's best interest unfortunately. Taking them to the zoo doesn't negate the fact that we don't know what kind of decisions she made on a regular basis.

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I know it may look like I was being like a bitch, but that's only because I was acting like a bitch.